This publication provides an up-to-date overview of the South Australian economy and contrasts the State's performance with that of the Australian economy. It provides details of movements in a range of economic and social indicators.

OVERVIEW
The data in this Overview are presented in trend terms, unless otherwise stated.

Included in this overview are Statistical Summary tables showing comparisons between South Australia and Australia for a variety of economic and social indicators. Also included is a State Summary, showing the performance of all States and Territories for selected indicators.

Further detail on all the indicators shown below can be obtained by accessing the latest Data Cube attached to this publication. This Data Cube is available within the Related Links section at the bottom of this page.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

The value of South Australian merchandise exports (in original terms) for the month of January 2004 was $515.9m. This was an decreasee of 28.0% from the previous month and 8.8% less than the value of exports in January 2003 ($565.5m).

The value of South Australian merchandise imports (in original terms) for January 2004 was $392.7m. This was a decrease of 5.5% from the $415.4m recorded in December 2003 and 11.5% less than the January 2003 figure of $443.5m.

In current price terms, National Accounts figures for the December qtr 2003 showed that state final demand in South Australia increased by 1.1% from the September qtr ($14.4b) to $14.6b. This was also a 7.1% increase on the December qtr 2002 figure of $13.6b.

Household consumption expenditure grew by 1.3% from the September qtr 2003 to be $8.7b for the December qtr 2003. Private gross fixed capital formation was $2.9b for the December qtr 2003, an increase of 0.6% from the September qtr 2003 and a rise of 15.4% from the same quarter last year.

Retail Turnover continued its steady increase, with a positive movement of 1.0% from December 2003 ($1,143.6m) to $1,1555.0m in January 2004. In the twelve month period from January 2003, total retail turnover increased by 6.0% from $1,089.1m.

Retail Turnover

- See Retail Trade, Australia (cat. no. 8501.0)

February 2004 saw a total of 5,213 new motor vehicle sales - a decrease of 0.4% on the previous month's figure of 5,235 vehicles. However, the February figure is 6.8% higher than the new vehicles sales recorded in February 2003 (4,879).

New Motor Vehicle Sales

- See Sales of New Motor Vehicles, Australia (cat. no. 9314.0.55.001)

HOUSING

In January 2004 the estimated total number of dwelling units approved in South Australia was 926, slightly lower than December 2003 (939) and 38 less than the twelve month high recorded in September 2003 (964). However this figure was still 42 more than for the same period last year.

Dwelling Units Approved

- See Building Approvals, Australia (cat. no. 8731.0)

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX

The all groups consumer price index in Adelaide for the December quarter 2003 was 146.2, an increase of 3.3% on the level recorded for the same period in 2002 and up 0.6% on the September quarter 2003.

Consumer Price Index

- See Consumer Price Index, Australia (cat. no. 6401.0)

LABOUR FORCE AND DEMOGRAPHY

The estimate of employed persons in South Australia was 713,500 in February 2004, lower than the peak in June 2003 (719,800) but similar to the level of twelve months ago (711,500). The total number of persons employed full-time in South Australia was 483,600 in February 2004 and was lower than the February 2003 estimate of 500,500.

Employed Persons

The estimate of the unemployment rate for South Australia was 6.8% in February 2004 and was higher than the February 2003 estimate of 6.2%. The estimate of the participation rate in South Australia was 61.5% in both February 2004 and February 2003, and was lower than the June 2003 estimate of 62.1%.

Unemployment Rate - Trend

- See Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0)

FINANCIAL MARKETS

The value of secured housing finance commitments (excluding alterations and additions, and including refinancing) was $649.6m in January 2004. This was an decrease of 1.6% from the previous month and an increase of 22.7% over the value of commitments in January 2003 ($529.3m).

Price index of materials used in building other than houses (index no.)

Dec qtr 03

125.7

0.1

1.9

126.7

0.3

3.2

..

14

Price index of established houses (index no.)

Dec qtr 03

220.4

6.4

24.2

245.1

6.0

18.9

..

15

Price index of project homes (index no.)

Dec qtr 03

164.9

2.6

6.0

153.7

1.7

7.9

..

15

Labour force and demography

Population (resident at end qtr) ('000)

Sep qtr 03

1,529.4

0.1

0.6

19,941.3

0.3

1.3

7.7

16

Natural increase of the population ('000)

Sep qtr 03

1.3

-6.1

39.3

27.7

-12.7

12.1

4.8

16

Labour Force

Original ('000)

Feb 04

768.1

0.6

0.8

10,209.6

1.2

0.6

7.5

17

Trend ('000)

Feb 04

765.6

0.0

1.0

10,166.7

0.1

0.7

7.5

17

Employed persons

Original ('000)

Feb 04

710.8

0.5

0.2

9,540.0

0.9

0.9

7.5

17

Trend ('000)

Feb 04

713.5

-0.1

0.3

9,580.9

0.1

1.2

7.4

17

Participation rate

Original (b) (%)

Feb 04

61.7

0.3

-0.1

63.7

0.6

-0.6

..

17

Trend (b) (%)

Feb 04

61.5

0.0

0.0

63.5

0.0

-0.5

..

17

Unemployment rate

Original (b) (%)

Feb 04

7.5

0.1

0.6

6.6

0.4

-0.2

..

17

Trend (b) (%)

Feb 04

6.8

0.1

0.6

5.8

0.0

-0.4

..

17

Job vacancies ('000)

Nov 03

4.0

-37.4

-22.6

105.7

-2.9

10.0

3.8

18

Industrial disputes ('000 working days lost)

Dec 03

0.3

-62.5

-40.0

37.7

-0.5

97.4

0.8

19

Income

Average weekly earnings (full-time; ordinary time)

Original ($)

Nov qtr 03

867.80

0.5

6.0

938.40

0.9

5.5

..

20

Trend ($)

Nov qtr 03

867.10

0.2

5.3

939.60

1.1

5.6

..

20

Wage cost index (total hourly rate excluding bonuses)

(c) index no.

Dec qtr 03

123.0

1.2

3.8

122.7

0.9

3.7

..

21

Financial markets

Secured housing finance (d)

Original ($m)

Jan 04

539.7

-24.8

16.2

8,067.5

-25.5

6.4

6.7

22

Trend ($m)

Jan 04

649.6

-1.6

22.7

10,430.1

-2.6

19.1

6.2

22

Finance commitments

Personal ($m)

Jan 04

360.9

-23.0

0.9

5,665.7

-16.6

9.8

6.4

23

Commercial ($m)

Jan 04

704.5

-60.2

-20.7

17,225.7

-43.4

7.0

4.1

23

Lease ($m)

Jan 04

12.3

-31.3

-19.6

364.2

-36.0

-14.1

3.4

23

Interest rates (b)

Banks - new housing loans (%)

Feb 04

..

..

..

7.05

0.0

0.50

..

24

Banks - business loans

Small, medium businesses (e) (%)

Feb 04

..

..

..

8.85

0.0

0.50

..

24

Large business (%)

Feb 04

..

..

..

8.85

0.0

0.50

..

24

(a) Base year of each index 1989-90 = 100.(b) Change is shown in terms of percentage points.(c) Base year of index Sep 1997 = 100.(d) Excludes alterations and additions. Includes refinancing.(e) Rate for business loans over $50,000.

STATE SUMMARY

Source

Indicator

Period

NSW

Vic.

Qld

SA

WA

Tas.

NT

ACT

index

SELECTED INDICATORS

CPI- All groups(a) (index no.)

Dec qtr

143.6

142.1

144.2

146.2

139.2

142.0

138.5

142.9

13

Participation rate trend (%)

Feb 04

62.5

63.2

64.9

61.5

65.7

58.8

71.8

71.6

17

Unemployment rate trend (%)

Feb 04

5.4

5.7

6.2

6.8

5.7

6.9

4.5

3.7

17

Average weekly earnings (full-time adults; ordinary time) trend ($)

Nov qtr

977.20

948.70

880.80

867.10

941.30

835.00

925.30

1,069.70

20

SELECTED INDICATORS PER HEAD OF POPULATION(b)

State final demand

Chain volume measures trend (c)

($'000)

Dec qtr

10.1

9.9

9.5

9.2

10.3

8.4

13.8

16.9

1

Retail turnover

Current prices original ($)

Jan 04

799.9

753.8

838.0

755.2

785.5

713.9

714.7

933.3

3

Current prices trend ($)

Jan 04

810.1

756.6

829.1

755.2

772.4

704.7

794.1

974.1

3

New motor vehicle sales

trend (no. per '000 population)

Feb 04

3.8

4.1

4.2

3.4

3.6

3.1

3.4

3.7

4

Private new capital expenditure

Current prices trend ($)

Dec qtr

525.1

612.1

595.5

648.0

1,220.1

330.2

2,567.8

452.6

5

Dwelling unit approvals

Original (no. per '000 population)

Jan 04

0.405

0.739

0.771

0.452

0.791

0.414

0.363

0.353

7

Trend (no. per '000 population)

Jan 04

0.540

0.794

0.941

0.614

1.032

0.491

0.509

0.449

7

Secured housing financed) ($)

Jan 04

446.2

380.5

395.7

352.9

447.0

233.3

253.8

350.6

22

PERCENTAGE CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS PERIOD

State final demand

Chain volume measures trend (c)

Dec qtr

1.2

0.9

3.1

0.6

1.8

2.1

2.0

0.5

1

Retail turnover

Current prices original

Jan 04

-22.4

-22.8

-19.2

-21.3

-20.6

-21.2

-18.7

-24.8

3

Current prices trend

Jan 04

0.3

0.5

0.6

1.0

0.4

0.3

0.1

0.2

3

New motor vehicle sales trend

Feb 04

0.0

-0.0

1.0

-0.4

-0.1

-2.9

2.1

-1.6

4

Private new capital expenditure

Current prices trend (e)

Dec qtr

-0.9

-1.8

1.6

-5.1

7.2

-7.1

3.2

-6.4

5

Dwelling unit approvals

Original (%)

Jan 04

-30.7

10.5

-9.4

-41.9

-19.5

-13.5

-20.0

-20.8

7

Trend (%)

Jan 04

-3.5

-0.0

-2.0

-1.4

-1.7

-2.1

2.0

-3.5

7

CPI- All groups (%)

Dec qtr

0.8

0.2

0.6

0.6

0.4

0.6

0.5

0.7

13

Participation rate trend (e)

Feb 04

-0.0

0.1

0.0

0.0

-0.1

-0.1

0.4

-0.1

17

Unemployment rate trend (e)

Feb 04

-0.4

1.0

0.6

1.4

-1.4

-0.9

-4.2

-1.9

17

Average weekly earnings (full-time adults;ordinary time) trend

Nov qtr

0.6

1.5

2.2

0.2

1.4

0.2

1.5

0.8

20

Secured housing finance

Jan 04

-27.9

-24.0

-25.6

-24.8

-21.3

-18.1

-27.0

-26.3

22

(a) Base year of index 1989-90=100.

(b) The latest quarterly estimate of Australian resident population has been used to calculate ratios for subsequent periods.